Athletes: The Other Side

Bryan Fogel is an American film director, producer, author, and 2018 Academy Award Winner in the Best Documentary Feature category for his revelatory film, Icarus.Icarus was released in 2017 and achieved huge critical acclaim having been described as “illuminating” by the New York Times and “Game Changing” by Variety due to its pivotal role in revealing evidence of systematic doping in Russia. Fogel’s Icarus premiered at the 2017 Sundance Film Festival, winning the first ever Special Jury "Or...

Player, coach, broadcaster and administrator, Katrina Adams has done it all. Adams is the former President and CEO of the United States Tennis Association—the first black woman, first former player and youngest person ever to hold the position. Adams served an unprecedented two consecutive terms as USTA Chairman and President, serving the board between 2005 and 2020.As a professional tennis player, Adams competed for 12 years on the WTA Tour, winning 20 career doubles titles and reaching a ca...

In this 13th outing, Ben speaks to his Great Aunt and former Olympic Champion Fencer, Gillian Donaldson. Now 92, Donaldson (née Sheen) is a seven-time British national fencing champion, and Olympic Gold medallist in the Foil for Great Britain at the 1956 Melbourne Olympics. In becoming Olympic Champion in Melbourne, Donaldson was, and remarkably remains so to this day, the only Briton ever to win Gold in Fencing at an Olympic Games. Whilst competing at an elite level in the early days of...

Richard “Dick” Pound, is a Canadian swimming champion, lawyer and prominent spokesman for ethics in sport. He was the first president of the World Anti-Doping Agency and vice-president of the International Olympic Committee.At the beginning of his sporting journey, there was his successful swimming career that saw him become four-time Canadian national freestyle champion, as well as butterfly champion. Internationally, he represented Canada at the 1960 Olympics, and won four medals at the 196...

#11 - It’s not often that a successful athlete is better known for their work after their athletic career, especially when that career involved achievements such as being the UK number 1 ranked men’s singles tennis player, reaching world number 80, winning three ATP titles in men’s doubles, and representing Britain at two Olympic Games (Seoul and Barcelona) and the Davis Cup.However, this is exactly the case for former face of breakfast television show GMTV Andrew Castle. After retiring...

#010 - Rebecca Smith is a California born ex-international footballer with 74 caps for the team she captained, the New Zealand national team. She’s represented New Zealand at multiple World cups and Olympic games, and has played professional football in 4 different countries, notably winning a Treble with Vfl Wolfsburg. These international experiences have clearly served her well, as since retiring, she’s put her degrees (Economics, Spanish, an MBA and Masters in Psychology) to good use throu...

#009 - As the former World Number 4, Todd Martin was a proud member of the golden club of American ATP stars in his nation’s tennis heyday: the 1990s. The self-described “Fifth Beatle” was in good company during that glorious era for the sport, as he sparred against compatriots Pete Sampras, Andre Agassi, Jim Courier and Michael Chang for what became that elusive Grand Slam title. To many, he was the ‘nearly man’, but to himself, the eight ATP tournament titles, the near misses and...

#008 - The GOAT (Greatest of all Time), two-time Olympic Champion and four-time World Champion in the triple jump and five-time World Athletics Diamond League Champion. What else is there you can say about Christian Taylor?Quite a lot, as it happens. The 10-time NCAA All American recently founded and became President of his own progressive athlete union, the Athletics Association aimed at giving athletes a greater say over the future of track and field athletics. Set-up in response to World A...

#007 – Born without legs in Lebanon, and moving to England at just six months’ old, the word ‘hardship’ doesn’t feature in Ali Jawad’s vocabulary. The Briton, who during his teens was diagnosed with uncurable Chrom’s disease has always grasped life with both hands, a skill evident by his determination to secure the Para-Powerlifting Silver Medal for Team GB at the Rio 2016 Games. Today, he is one of Britain’s most ambitious athletes, and in an era when free speech is under increasing thr...

#006 - Our first Doctor to feature on Athletes: The Other Side, Matt Hanson is a professional triathlete and coach for triathletes, cyclists and runners. Hailing from Minnesota, Matt is one of life’s achievers and an Ironman guru. With an extensive background as an athlete, he is a highly-educated figure when it comes to anything sports-related.As an athlete, he came from the sport of wrestling, yet it is running that has always a been a passion of his. In 2014, his first year as a pro, ...